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Slaughterhouse Arena
Ibex is busy as per usual, especially around the arenas with merchants selling various racing paraphenalia and visitors milling about waiting for events to start but having themselves a good time drinking, gambling or playing games at the arcades before the races began. And who should be zooming around one of the tracks but Blurr, the most famous athlete on the planet. None of the tourists are allowed inside the stadium yet, but some of them are kind of peering through windows and spaces between walls to watch him with awe. He certainly wasn't named 'Blurr' for nothing. Of course, right before and right after every event in the arena, there was some cleanup involved. After is always worse than before, but since everything needed to be SPOTLESS for the wealthier patrons that first walk in the doors, the cleaning crew worked like busy little bots. Traditionally, what the cleaning bots call Group 5 work in Ibex. What isn't known by anyone outside the cleaning bots and their superiors, though, is that Group 5 is actually pretty darn big. Hey, Ibex was a big place; right now, there were at LEAST three dozen of the little bots sweeping and dusting and shining and flushing. Blurr doesn't really have a way of telling them apart, and he knows they're not likely to trust him any more. Not any of them, word travels fast around here, after all. So he's going to assume that the lot of them are already extra-wary of him. Well, too bad their job is to clean the tracks. Which means that they're alone with him inside the arena. There are a few other track workers around, but eventually they wander out. Blurr makes a final lap and stops on the starting line, pausing to scan briefly and gauge how many of them are here and how spread out they are. There were roughly forty of them, give or take one or three that might be cleaning the snack areas out of sight. They're spread pretty far out; a trio here, a lone litter sweeper here, a couple cleaning a banister... They all glance at him. Every one of them is wary. Blurr nods briefly to himself, and walks over to the sidelines, under the grandstands, and into the control room on the ground floor. Here is where the track workers would decide what played on the big videopanes above the seating areas, what obstacles were out on the tracks, and of course, this was where they opened the doors from to let guests in when the race was about to begin. Casually he enters an access code, and hits the controls for the doors and windows, which proceed to obediently seal themselves shut. He then determines which group is closest to him for the quickest and most efficient execution. Aha, it's the two over there, cleaning that banister. He smirks, as if this were some kind of game! "Readysetgo!" he calls out suddenly, and dashes toward the banister, weapons emerging from his arms as he fires upon the duo! There's a scream and it doesn't come from one of the cleaning bots Blurr is targeting. It comes from across the stadium, actually; a cleaning bot, just... The wrong one? The two in Blurr's path fall pretty predictably. It doesn't even take too many shots; each go from less than two shots each. Though, now there's a very, very large puddle of cleaning solution on the floor. Veeeery slippery, that; there's a LOT of it, too. Nearby cleaning bots are... Not running. Blurr loses his footing a bit on the slippery cleaning solution, but mitigates that by transforming into his vehicle form. Two down; thirty-some to go! He veers sharply and heads for the perimeter of the arena, aiming for the lone sweeper in an attempt to simply run him over and flatten him into the ground. Hmm, they are not trying to run this time...well not that they actually -have- anywhere to go with the doors sealed, but they aren't even trying to hide! Do they have something planned? Blurr slips, but just for a moment; and then in to vehicle mode? Well, now his entire undercarriage might be covered in the cleaning solution. The cleaning bot that Blurr tries to run down winds up seeing him coming; he jumps, but isn't QUITE fast enough. The poor cleaning bots' legs get run over and make a loud SCRUNCH noise. These guys are not made to be sturdy. When he goes down, though, he pulls up his arms and... Sprays Blurr with cleaning solution. A LOT of cleaning solution. It might be their only 'weapon'. Well Blurr may be coming out of this squeaky clean, it seems! On the one hand, it's the only thing they have access to, but on the other, the racer can't help but think that they might have some sort of plan in mind. They might have a lowly job but in no way does he think they're stupid. Still, he sreeches to a halt, swerving around sharply when he realizes he hasn't quite finished that one off. Another potshot is aimed to the head in order to make the job thorough. It's getting awfully messy in here, despite the cleaning solution...with the fuel of the cleaners everywhere. With the cleaning bots set up all over the stadium, quite a few of them were by seats and railings above Blurr's current slaughter. He may or may not be surprised, then, by the sudden fall of... Wires? Cut wires. Wires that are sparking at the tip. The sparking wires fall toward their intended target. Now if it had only been one person dropping a few wires, they might not have hit, due to just how fast Blurr is moving. However, with 20 or 30 people all dropping clusters of them, -one- of them is bound to touch him, right? And that's all it takes. Suddenly, the racer -explodes- into flame, the stench of burning chemicals filling the air. Plumes of black smoke rise quickly, obscuring his form momentarily, but when it clears, the speedster's form can be seen lying motionless on the floor of the track, flames still licking at parts of his body. Is he...dead? There's a long few minutes of silence. The nearest cleaning bots are actually backing away from the body. Others have begun to move again, now, looking for exits or for a way to unseal the doors. One cleaning bot near Blurr stares. ... And then sprays more cleaning solution on the body. Nothing happens for a few moments. Blurr is completely motionless on the ground. The remaining flames momentarily increase in intensity when the one bot sprays more of the flammable solution...although, unfortunately, unless they can find a way to hack the control room, the others will have no success in getting past the sealed doors. They're stuck in here, until someone -else- opens it from the outside. And finds them in here, with the fuel of a celebrity all over their hands. The idea that, why, yes, this does look a great deal like murder does cross their minds. They murmur nervously about it, even as they look for vent shafts, large drain pipes, or anything that might get them out. A couple of the cleaning bots gets to... A radio. A simple communications radio, actually. They dial the easy-to-remember-three-digit emergency number everybody knows for an emergency. They either have a hell of a plan or are very, very dumb. There's no rest for the wicked. This also means there is no rest for those who would thwart the wicked. In general, this just means there's a lot of people not getting enough rest! Either way, a distress has been sent out and the dutiful Acuity is here. Flying in with her para-jet mode, Autobot symbols blazing (she's cleaned up since her meeting with Hot Rod), she transforms into a techno-cycle part way down. Generally she finds it's best to NOT walk around too much in her root mode; it upsets people. The doors around the arena are absolutely sealed shut. Which is odd, considering there's an event stated to go on in just a few hours. Every window, every entryway, locked down and tight. The distress call came from INSIDE the arena. With the distress beacon however, Acuity's position as an enforcer will grant her access to any area where the signal may be coming from. Airazor is on the wing, as usual, drifting over the Cybertronian cityscape and generally looking out of place, if anyone would occasion to see the rather quiet Maximal against the night sky. Acuity seems to have caught the marshal's interest, if just for her flashy jet mode and the smooth transition into that techno-cycle build. Even a bird can be a little jealous. It is an absolute mess inside. There's cleaning solution and energon everywhere. Though, the large puddles of both seem to be at three very important place; where corpses lay. Two disposable YX bots bear shot wounds to the head and lie next to each other. Another is a short distance away with similar wounds, but also appears to have been partially crushed by tires. And then there's Blurr's body. Who seems to have been on fire in the very recent past. Still smoking a little, actually. Sparking, severed wires are hanging nearby. And around all of this are a LOT of very nervous YX cleaning bots." The law might not always /be/ right, but it always /has/ certain rights. Following protocols, Acuity scans the area for immediate threats to her person as well as making sure there aren't any innocent bystanders in trouble. Assuming these things check out, she will go to the doors and use whatever access codes and tools she has to get that door open, while issuing a warning of, "Stay away from the doors." Unfortunately, this necessitates turning into her root mode. The scene inside, however, is quite a bit less serene than things were outside. Yes, this definitely classifies as a 'distress' worthy situation. Moving in quickly she looks for what the threat is, and if the purpetrator of this chaos is still present and a danger. There's no one here, however, aside from the motionless Blurr and the nervous cleaner bots. At least not yet. Acuity approaches the cleaner Bots, giving them a long look out of that single optic. They seem nervous; that indicates sentience. Since her symbol is not present on her body (at least in this form), she pulls out an ID pad. "What happened here?" she asks, her tone firm, but not harsh. Gesturing for them to follow her, she goes to check out Blurr; see if he's still alive. The cleaning bots are giving Blurr's body a really wide berth. They're not going anywhere near him; they look quite frightened, in fact. "Ma'm?" One of the YX cleaner bots whimpers from nearby. "Blurr attacked us first. We just wanted to stop him. We didn't think he'd light on fire." Airazor perches on a street sign down the lane. No need to get too close, with her telescopic vision Airazor can see everything going on through the door. "I hope she's robocide divisin." The bird quips to herself. "Oh really, you didn't think he'd light on fire, well why the frag were you so intent on covering him with flammable liquids then before you tried to light those liquids on -fire- with a high-voltage shock, HUH?" A voice calls out from behind Acuity. By now, the IAA has sent their security mechs to the scene. Why of -course- they were watching the entire time, this track practically belongs to them! Two rather large bruiser-type mechs wielding massive plasma cannons make their way onto the tracks. The other one smirks. "Good thing you filthy disposables don't have the right to -defend- yourselves." He nod toward Acuity. "You gonna help us round 'em up or what?" Is Blurr still alive? Well he hasn't moved yet, at least not noticeably...though his hand is clutching a sharp piece of metal debris that had come loose in all the chaos. The lot of poor disposables are shaking. The meek talker, though, pipes up again. "S-S-Sir, actually, as property of the sanitation d-department, we have the responsibility of protecting government property. Us." Oooh, a bold one. "A-and we just wanted to maybe shock him, it's cleaning solution, it's all we have!" Acuity blinks her single optic at the cleaners. Cleaners attacking someone, that is highly unusual. "Why would he attack you?" she asks sternly. Something is really wrong here. Then the big bruisers show up. "I will determine if, and when, they are to be 'rounded' up," she says shortly to the 'security' (aka: thugs). Pulling out a container, she walks to the 'brave' one. "I need a sample of the solution you used," she says. Airazor narrows her optics as the big guns arrive. The Maximal takes to the wing again, flapping a few times until she can get airborne over the arena, where circles in view of the open door. Waiting and watching. The security contrators scoff at the disposable's excuses. "Oh, that's -riiight-! You're government property, I almost forgot. Well that means the government can do whatever it -wants- with you, and if it wants you dead, well then that's their call, right? After all, you're expendable! Haha!" They shake their heads. Alas, but it is true, sadly enough. But while they were laughing, Blurr suddenly jumps up off of the ground and attempts to grab Mr. Meek Talker and impale him through the chest with the piece of debris that is now serving as a makshift blade. Well, Blurr is alive! ...And apparently able to move very quickly despite his injuries! The poor little bold disposable never stood a chance; both him and several other cleaning bots nearby all scream as he's stabbed. The stabbed YX bot is flailing, though; maybe it didn't quite hit his spark? Also, LOUD SCREAMING. Acuity has good reflexes, but there's no way she can match the speed of Blurr, assuming he's using it to full capacity. Still, she moves as quickly as she can to try to save the disposable. Despite the flailing, she tries to pick up the impaled YX unit as she stares at Blurr. "This is highly irregular," she states, her voice evincing the disaproval that her face cannot show. As for the toughs, well, she has more things to worry about than citizens who think they are on the same level as the /actual/ law. For now she doesn't make any attempt to quiet down the cleaning crew; she doesn't blame them for being scared. There's even a hitch in Airazor's otherwise immaculate circling when Blurr kills the disposable. "Yeesh." The Maximal observes, not yet intervening. It's a Cybertron problem. Perhaps Blurr wasn't quite as injured as everyone thought he was. Or perhaps, because of Mercury's 'gift' to him a while back, he is able to regenerate faster than most. Even as Acuity picks up the impaled bot, he twists the shard 180 degrees around inside the wound, then rips it violently out of the body. He then charges for the others, a look of determination on his face. The security thugs just stand there, watching with mild amusement as all of this takes place. "Primus, just look at 'im go! Heh, no wonder they like him doing all their dirty work." One of them mutters. Que a whole lot of screaming from a whole lot of cleaning bots. A few standing on higher level arena seating are showering him with more cleaning solution, though. As if it will somehow re-ignite the flames. To be fair, they ARE screaming and in a panic. ...And running all over the place, too. A few are running for the open door. Acuity levels her one optic glare at the thug. "Enough; you're not making my job any easier with your comentary." She turns back to Blurr, and it might be just as well her face is fixed in a single expression. "Explain yourself," is all she says. It isn't QUITE a demand from authority, but if he is doing something, then she has to know what the 'ranking' officer is up to if it deviates from protocol. Turning to the mass of little cleaning bots, she sighs. "Things will go better if you organize yourselves. Line up in the seats in an orderly fashion." Airazor continues to watch the scene unfold, having retaken a perch. "Amateur hour in there." The Maximal observes, fluffing the artificial feathers around her neck. "You don't shout at him, you grab him." Acuity glances up at the bird. Perhaps she had been aware of her before, but she hadn't really been concerned with the Maximal. When she speaks, however, she chooses not to ignore her further. "Who?" she asks, trying to discern the bird's intent in speaking at this point. Blurr makes the ones heading for the door his priority right now--he can't let them escape! He darts in front of the doorway, attempting to block their escape path. He doesn't respond to Acuity's question at all. Did he even hear her? This is really, really not working. The YX cleaning bots running for the door skid to a stop. Or they try to, anyway; two of them successfully manage to run back the way they came; one stumbles and falls on his behind. Poor doomed little disposable. When in doubt, radio! Being ignored like that doesn't sit well with Acuity, and Blurr would make a pretty poor officer if he could miss something like that. Meanwhile she tries to herd the little bots into someplace where she can strike up a defensive position in front of them until she gets word back. "The one making them *panic*." Airazor replies to Acuity, a hint of exasperation in her gravelly tone. "How many of them were running before he started stabbing?" The Maximal beats her wings in the air and takes flight again, pouring on a little inorganic speed to the point that she can dart towards Blurr, low, talons lashing at one of his feet. Just knock him down, then keep flying. Blurr is already a poor officer, honestly. First off, he is much too young to be part of security on standard terms. Plus right now he is a bit out of it, having just been lit on fire and everything. The poor, unfortunate diposable who fell on his aft ends up being the fifth to die tonight, as his head is blown into the ground. Finally, though, Airazor's talons manage to trip him up a bit. He stumbles, falling to his knees as he looks up to see who just attacked him. The racer glares up at the Maximal. "Airazor? I thought we were -friends-. Or do you just not know how to stay out of slag that isn't your business?" He watches as Acuity tries to herd the rest of them into one location. Yes, yes, go ahead and do that! Makes things easier. "Stand down," Acuity says to Blurr. "No wonder there are those who are rebelling against us if we have given up our role as protectors." She waves a claw at Airazor. "Thank you for the...assistance...even if it is unorthodox." This just makes reports more tricky. Oh well. The slaughter of the little cleaners is a bit disconcerting. If he doesn't stand down...she'll have to remember what protocol is for taking down an rogue officer. The surviving disposables aren't exactly herding in to one place, but they seem to have stopped the intense panic from a few moments before. Now, they're... In groups. All over the place, but they're not screeching to Primus himself, so that's something, right? Airazor transforms upon hearing Blurr's voice, turning back around to hover in the air over him. It makes her look taller, all black and gold and feathers in wild array, and it's fairly effortless. "It would be a friend who stops you from making an idiot of yourself and killing a bunch of defenseless bots. And doing a slagging poor job of it, too." Her green optics practically glare down at Blurr. "Whatever happened, it's over. Start thinking, stop shanking." "Well you're sure as slag not -helping- me do a better job by -attacking- me!" Blurr protests. However, he doesn't seem to pursue them any further...at least not for the time being. Instead he just sighs and slumps against a wall, exhausted and in pain. "We are here to serve and protect and uphold the law. They are little threat to you, and what's more, they are evidence." Witnesses. Whatever. "Killing them is wasteful and makes more holes in the investigative process." She gives him a long look with that optic. "Now, if you are ready to be reasonable, you can help me round all of these up, get their numbers, and we can proceed from there," she adds. Then she turns to Airazor. "Whatever you said, it had an effect. Who are you?" The question is polite; not a demand. "I normally hunt bigger game." Airazor remarks to Blurr. "And if I was actually attacking you, you'd be missing a foot." The Maximal glances over her shoulder at Acuity. "She gets it. Whatever's going on? You really think you're going to get all of them half offline?" Airazor shakes her head. "You need a medic, Blurr." Speech delivered, she settles down on the floor, betraying her less than impressive height. "I'm Airazor, Marshal of Animatron. If you could forget I was here I think it would save some trouble for both of us." Blurr glares at both of them. "You need to stay out of business that isn't your own." He shoots at Airazor. Then he turns on Acuity. "And -you- need to realize that you don't know everything, so stop acting so high and mighty." As if he's one to talk. So wise, for being only 15 meta-cycles old, maybe 16 now. Not. "You think I -like- chasing these dirt-bots around? I'm -trying- to protect sensitive information. These things are -expendable-. I mean just look at them, there were like fifty of them in here. They're cheap." A whole lot of the cleaning bots are cowering behind chairs and seats, now. Sitting ON them might've been more comfortable, but it looks like they're still frightened out of their minds. For good reason, really. As Blurr shoots at Airazor, they let out a series of yelps before ducking down behind the chairs. As if the chairs would give them cover. Acuity tilts her head to the side. "Marshal. That sounds like a rank. How does that fit in here?" And then she suggests leaving it off the reports. "I'm not in the habit of leaving information out. Is there a reason you wish to remain under the radar?" she persists. Then Blurr speaks up. "There is procedure for things. You are acting erratically. We stand for order. If the information is so sensitive then we will have to escort them all to the higher ups." She sighs. "So, if you're done being belligerent, you can help me ROUND them up. Not for an execution." She's not even going to TRY to call the little guys down until Blurr gives a response. Airazor smirks back at Blurr, though whatever amusement is behind that expression is snuffed out by the cold glow of her optics. "Expendable? You Cybertronians. Look at me, Blurr. My alternate form is a *beast*. According to your taxonomy I'm every bit as disposable as they are. Forgive me if I don't find that very persuasive." The marshal turns away, towards Acuity. "It is a rank. My function is to enforce the laws and Victory Leo's authority. I'm on Cybertron pursuing Animatronian criminals, so, this is a little out of my jurisdiction." Airazor glances at the YX's. "Though a cop is a cop and I find it hard to stand by during a murder spree, sanctioned by Cybertronian barbarism or not." "I am -not-!" Blurr protests in response to Acuity's accusation that he is acting erratically. He sounds very childish. "Do you think -I- just up and decided that I needed to kill a bunch of disposables? Pff! Duh! Neither of you have -any- idea what's going on here. -Therefore- you have absolutely no right to just barge in like you just did!" No, he is not done being belligerent, apparently. "This is -IAA- private property, in case you haven't noticed. He groans, muttering. "Fine. I'll help you -round- them up, then." The speedster finally agrees. "I would smile if I could. The law does not see these as people, but they are aware, and that is enough for me. Besides, in this case, they /are/ evidence, and that is entirely supported by the law. Even if they resisted, they are hardly a match for any officer of the law." "And you seem to think that the IAA is the law from the sounds of it," Acuity says coldly. "It is not a legal institution, and so if I receive a distress, then I have the right to be here. It is my JOB. And if it's so far above my clearance level, then I'm surprised you /do/ know what's going on. Because from where I'm standing, you just look like an officer that got hopped up on his own power." Now that Blurr has agreed to /help/ her, she starts rounding up the disposables, noting their numbers and entering them into her voice-recorder. Stupid claws. "I'm certain I don't know what's going on." Airazor replies to Blurr. "I also don't care. Do your job better if you don't want interference." The Maximal notes. Seeing that things are mostly under control, she steps towards the door. "I need to get off this planet. You have no idea how rotten it looks from the outside." The disposables naturally shy away from Blurr and some literally cower behind Acuity. Seems like they trust her a heck of a lot more than him. A few disposables stare at Airazor as if they have no idea what to make of her. Awe, surprise and unease; maybe they've never seen someone like her before. They're easily rounded, though, now that no one is trying to murder them. Acuity inclines her head towards Airazor. "If we ever meet again, I would like to hear more about your planet, specifically how the laws are upheld. Cop to cop." There's a certain warmth in her voice that would generally accompany a smile if she could produce one. She gets a system going where the ones who have already been 'processed' file in two lines to the left, while the others are told to stay on the right while she gets to them. Her voice is crisp and firm, though not unkind. "Oh yeah? And how would -you- have done it, huh?" Blurr challenges Airazor. "Bombed the place? Well that obviously wasn't an option." He'd already tried tricking them before, so that wasn't going to work twice. They weren't stupid enough for that. He starts to assist Acuity in rounding them up...and may or may not be considering 'abruptly' changing his mind and deciding to kill them now that they are all in one place. "They're -not- people." He replies to her flatly. "It's your job to protect -people-, and protect the -system- by upholding the law. Protecting sensitive information falls into those categories. Protecting expendable tools -doesn't-." "Protecting the evidence DOES fall in my job description," Acuity retorts. "We can't get a hole picture without all the evidence." The already dead have to be bagged as well, though she's less interested in THAT aspect. And she keeps that single, bright yellow optic on Blurr as much as she can. "I don't know what you were doing. I can't say." Airazor replies to Blurr. Not knowing that apparently doesn't trouble her. "But if your system is so fragile it has to murder a bunch of cleaning bots in order to save itself, maybe it's not worth what you think it is." The maximal notes, still looking out on the street. "It also sounds like you're trying to reassure yourself, not the officer here, that these bots aren't people. Whatever keeps your processor cool when you're recharging, I suppose." Airazor finally looks back at Acuity. "Some time, sure. I tend to drift about." The cleaning bots are obedient to Acuity; they continue to try and avoid Blurr as if he were a walking plague. At this point, he might actually be one to them. They all look very, very worried, though. "Are we under arrest?" One of them asks very, very quietly to no one in particular. Yeah, evidence that the Senate would rather see -destroyed-. Blurr shakes his head at Airazor. "You have no idea what you're talking about so you'd better shut your trap." He snaps. "This had -nothing- to do with me. I was just doing my job. Like I said before, it had -everything- to do with protecting sensitive intel. But clearly you two still have no idea what that means. Even after I just explained to you several times." "You need to be questioned, or, as Blurr would say that you can't since you're not people, processed," Acuity says. Something in her tone indicates she doesn't quite buy that. Being 'not a person' according to the law isn't the same as being not a person at all. "When we figure out what exactly happened then we can figure out where you will be going." She looks them over. "Who is your handler? I should send them a message about their losses so they can rearrange the schedules as they see fit." She clacks a claw against the side of her head. This is such a mess and Blurr really isn't helping. "You may be used to pandering to the crowds of racing fans, but this is not the sort of image we need," she tells him flatly. The cleaning bots murmur quietly to each other for a moment. After a few seconds, one hesitantly walks towards Acuity and hands her a very small card. It looks like a business card; maybe it's their handler? It has a Sanitation Office stamp on the corner and contact information. "Are we going to die?" The question from that little disposable is almost a whisper. "You really haven't." Airazor remarks to Blurr with some amusement in her tone. "But, I'm sure you'll have a chance to fix whatever happened. Had you continued in your murder spree, some would have gotten away. Now they're rounded up. Police work." The maximal nods towards Acuity. "Figure out exactly what happened?" Blurr scoffs. "Are you forgetting that I was -there-? So I do know -exactly- what happened, and so does the IAA. This is their property, so of course they were watching." Obviously. He glances at Airazor when she makes comment about them being rounded up now. Yes, she has a very good point...Maybe he should take advantage of that, before it's too late. Acuity accepts the card with a nod of her head and files it away. "Honestly, I don't know. I'm just here to round up what facts I can. You'll each likely have to make a statement and have someone check you over to make sure that any physical evidence corroborates your stories. I wish I had better news for you." She was about to tell them they have a better chance of surviving by coming along with her, but she realizes that might NOT be true. She remembers what she heard about the little fiasco on behalf of the NPD. She radios for a pick up vehicle to come to the location. Her alt modes aren't the kind that could transport them all. Until then, she has to wait and hopefully keep these cleaners somewhat calm. "If they have video footage, then that will be useful as well. It's all part of the process. Or did you skip that part of your training?" Airazor tilts her head towards Blurr. "So you were covering something up. And they were burning you to a crisp. I never said you needed to figure out what happened, just that you're in a better position to fix whatever it is now than you were before." The Maximal glances out the door again. "I really should go, I'm not in the mood to answer cop questions." "Of course they have footage." Blurr replies derisively. Right, footage that they'll no doubt modify to suit their purposes before letting the public see it, or anyone in the lower echelons of power, so that whatever they were doing would all look very just and right. The speedster nods at Airazor. "You've got a point," She does, really. Now that they are all rounded up, it'll be much easier to eliminate every last one of them. So while he is helping Acuity get them into neat little lines, he clandestinely attaches a small grenade to the back of one and shuffles him toward the middle as if trying to get the lines to a more organized composition. It's not large enough to seriously injure any of the more standard-sized bots in the vicinity, but it is enough to rip through the minibots now that they are all clustered together! So there is a tiny blinking red light, now...and in about ten astroseconds, there will be an explosion. Too bad that Acuity doesn't know about this, since she's helping them into the back and sitting back there as well. Uh oh. Damn that mech's speed; if he operated under normal Cybertronian physics, she probably would have had a chance to notice what he did. Sucks to be Acuity. Airazor acts quickly once she sees the grenade. It's reflex, really, she's trained to be decisive and to go in quickly for the kill. Her course of action might call into question everything she just said about disposables. Who knows how well the grenade is stuck on, or how powerful it is. The marshal has to do something, however. So, she darts towards the unfortunate cleaning bot, flight systems lifting her off the gound and propelling Airazor forward. She's not as fast as Blurr, but compared to most Cybertronians she's very fast indeed. Airazor grabs the cleaning mech and simply throws it away. That one is doomed, but perhaps the rest could be saved. BOOM. Airazor's quick action saves a good number of the cleaning bots; the one with the grenade stuck on isn't thrown quite far enough to miss them ALL, but three dead disposables are probably better than loosing the entire lot. The three that died didn't have time to scream. The ones that remain, not so much. Although not slow, Acuity can't match Airazor's speed either, and she was completely taken by surprise. What on Cybertron...? She's about to protest, or make a demand, or perhaps start an arrest...then KABOOM. Wow. "Good optics," she says, realizing what had happened. "Though, I suppose, it would have been better if none of them exploded at all." Now she's torn between staying with the ones in the van and 'combing' them for more explosives and getting the one that was tossed for evidence. Finally she makes a call. "Check for more explosives; I'm grabbing the other one for evidence." Either the not-quite-civilian Airazor will listen...or not. Blurr had made it a point to step away from the group as soon as he'd planted the explosive, though he doesn't tell Acuity to do the same thing--he doesn't want her to suspect since she might try to foil his efforts. ...But then Airazor does foil his efforts. Well not completely, but mostly. The unfortunate bot with the grenade indeed does not have time to scream, he simply goes BOOM. Unfortunately for Blurr, however, the Maximal had thrown him in the speedster's direction, which he was not expecting at all; thus he gets a facefull of hot gases, fire, and bits of YX bot. He was in bad shape before, but now he's in -really- bad shape. If optics could kill (where's Dinobot?) Airazor would be murdering everything in sight. She lands, looks for Blurr, and then realizes she got him pretty good with the blast. That seems to mollify her. "Officer." Airazor calls to Acuity as she walks towards where Blurr was hit. "I can't order you to do anything, so I'm making a recommendation. Summon a medic for Blurr, and then arrest for obstructing the course your investigation. He's lucky he got hit or I would have shot him." "Unfortunately, he's right that these little 'bots don't have a 'legal' designation as personhood," Acuity admits, however reluctantly. "Still, endangering the safety of a fellow officer and property of the law is not standard procedure." She gives Airazor a long, blank look. "Would you like to come in with us and offer your own statements?" Yes, it actually IS a request. She radios in a request for a medic to come see to Blurr, though part of her thinks he got just what he deserved. What an AFT! Next she tries to calm the remaining cleaners. After all, they've been through a lot of trauma. The poor surviving disposables are a mess; they're trembling, clinging to each other, and generally aren't in much of a place to do more than cower. It's a good thing Blurr is in stasis lock or too weak to get back up, because if he hadn't been he would have attempted to continue the spree. Acuity won't find any further explosives, fortunately enough. At least for now. Medevac from the IAA arrives before anyone else though, and they gather him up to take him back to their facilities so that they can fix him up both physically and mentally. And by mentally we mean making sure he's still convinced that he was in the right. After what just happened of course, he might have become unstable. Even the medical personnel do not say a word to Acuity or Airazor or the cleaners, only a few of them toss sharp looks their way before taking Blurr away. "I think I would rather not." Airazor replies to Acuity as Blurr is taken away. Doesn't matter to her who takes him. She folds her arms, then looks up. "I'll be around, though. Keep my eyes on the ground in case something is going wrong. Have a good night, officer." With that, the maximal transforms into her bird mode and takes to the sky. Acuity watches the bird fly away. She's still going to report her, but try to do it in the best way possible without lying. She doesn't like to lie. But she'll keep optic and audials open for mentions of the avian femme again; she finds her interesting. Acuity doesn't interfere with the IAA medics, not knowing how devious the association is. Medical attention is required, though she'll have to write that in her report too. Sigh. It's going to be a long evening. With Blurr out for the count, and Airazor gone, it's just her and the little bots, and the driver. She works on settling them down some more and tells the driver to get moving back to the station. Sometime later Acuity shows up, having gone through proper procedure of getting the little bots all filed away as...well...living evidence. Someone was sent to retrive the video footage from the IAA. For the most part, Acuity tries to do things by the book. But, eventually, she finds her way in here. Prowl is /the/ law apart from Sentinel himself and the Senate. What he says, goes. Not some young upstart with an attitude problem. Prowl is expecting a full report on the incident, but he might as well debrief Acuity anyway. He nods as she enters. "Acuity." He knows her name, though he hasn't really officially 'met' her in person. Acuity's stint undercover probably would have been in a few reports here and there. Besides, Prowl's probably 'heard' of most that call themselves Autobots. She inclines her head. "Prowl, sir," she says with an awkward, claw-salute. "I know my rank isn't very high, and I always aim to follow orders and protocol. So when I'm challenged by a fellow officer when doing my job, I find it is best to go as close to the top as possible," she says. Prowl sighs. He doesn't like where this is going. Why oh why did people have to make things difficult. "Very well...describe what happened in Ibex." Acuity goes into a description, telling the whole truth as she sees it. "Usually it wouldn't be an issue, but his importance and knowledge of things that are far about his rank level was a contradiction to how things are supposed to go. Now, I know there are things that those of us of lower rank aren't supposed to know, and I respect that, but to do my job I have to know when to listen to people and when they're blowing smoke out their aft. That's what rank is for, isn't it?" Prowl sighs again, though this time it's a bit more drawn out. He shuffles a few datapads on his desk, getting them reordered in a more organized fashion. Ugh. They -weren't- supposed to call security. "Blurr is a special case. He's somewhat of a liaison between us and the IAA. He is also a courier, scout and sometimes saboteur. So he is privy to some of the things that they have been doing for us even if his rank doesn't necessarily warrant it. I would advise you not to interfere with his assignments, or the assignments of other teams whose specific objectives you may or may not be aware of, unless they are breaching regulations. If you are in doubt, then you may contact me or another superior officer, instead of taking things into your own hands." And while I am sorry that he inadvertantly placed you in danger, you need to be able to accept that these things happen in this line of work. Sometimes risking the life of a teammate is necessary in order to get the results we need--even though in that case, the hazard presented to you was far from life-threatening. Of course if you hadn't interfered in the first place, you would never have been at risk. Acuity treats Prowl to a blank look; it's the only kind she has. "Then we need a better system to flag those who have such 'special' assignments. Or a code word, or something. Because he was acting highly erratic and not going at all according to the way things are 'usually' done. What is the point in drilling these rules and regulations into our heads if we aren't to follow them?" she asks. Then she gives her own sigh. "See, usually there isn't a problem. Rank is followed, I do what I'm told to the best of my abilities, I file a report. Then I take my time off to recharge and go back at it again." She shakes her head. "You tell me to leave Blurr alone, I can do that. But I can't just take /his/ word for it." "We don't need a code, you simply need to leave the judgement of whether another officer is acting correctly or not up to those who are in higher positions of responsibility. It is not your job to make sure everyone else is following protocol to the letter, that's -my- job. I'll be honest with you, Acuity, there are some things that -can't- be flagged to everyone, because they -need- to be strictly off the books. It shouldn't surprise you, in a world as chaotic as this one." Acuity shrugs her shoulders. "And then, if I don't act fast only to learn that someone wasn't on the up and up? Do I get chastized then for not making the correct call. Sometimes there just isn't the time to track down those higher up the chain of command. As you said, the world out there is crazy, chaotic. Which is why /we/ have to be orderly." "Exactly." Prowl nods. "And the most orderly way to go about that sort of situation is to address the issue with command. You will never be chastised for exercising caution. You -will- be chastised for attempting to take matters into your own hands without knowing anything about the situation, which is what is happening right now. Understand?" Acuity can't look contrite with that face, but she does bow her head. "I...understand. Perhaps I need to brush up on my protocol. I was undercover for some time, and the rules then were slightly different." She sounds defeated. "I'm aware of that." Prowl replies. "And since you were, you do know something about sensitive information, and not interfering with situation you know nothing about, is that correct? If you were still trying to keep your cover, you wouldn't want someone else who knows nothing about your situation shelling out some kind of condemnation on you, or interfering with your mission." "No, but I would also know that they wouldn't know and not give them attitude...unless of course that /was/ my cover. But, when I was undercover, I wasn't wearing the symbol. I wasnt' marked as part of the hierarchy. Blurr was. Perhaps that is where my error of judgement came into place," Acuity says as her own apology comes back to bite her in the aft. "Blurr is very young." Prowl states. "So don't be surprised if he does give you 'the attitude'." He sighs again. "Just...next time, if you are in doubt, alert a superior officer instead of charging in yourself. That is all." Acuity nods her head at this. "And how much time should I wait, and at what severity of danger, should I trust my instincts?" she inquires. "You will wait as long as is necessary, until you are given further instructions from your superiors, unless the action is very severe and clearly against the law." Prowl replies. Acuity nods her head as she takes this in. "Alright," she says. "What you say, goes. I don't mean to be trouble, but I also want to make sure that I fully understand what is expected of me." Good." Prowl nods. "If you have any further questions, please do ask." Acuity inclines her head. "Thank you for taking the time to clear these things up. Though...how high up does the authority need to come from? If I get clearance from someone above me and /they/ didn't know the full situation, does the blame come down to me?" "No. If you aren't sure then you can talk to me." Prowl answers. Since he's the one held responsible, anyway, whether or not he had a say in it directly. "Would that be all, then?" Acuity nods her head. "I'll leave you to your duties then, sir. As you said, you have a lot of them." Saluting again she turns and leaves without fanfare. At least she didn't come here to discuss random philosophy.